MRS. BUSH: Well, this year's theme is "Holidays in the National Parks,"
and that's what those ornaments on the big Blue Room tree represent. We
sent a big ornament out to every national park -- 391 of them -- and
they had an artist decorate the balls in some way that represent our
national parks.

And so it's a really beautiful way to show how beautiful our country is.

Q It is gorgeous, and it's so neat that everybody wanted to take part
and do that. How do you decide on a theme, though? Because I imagine
it must be a big task to try to figure out what you want to highlight
about our diverse nation.

MRS. BUSH: Well, every year, just some theme seems obvious. And this
year, I think the national parks are very important to let everyone know
about, because we're coming up, in 2016, on the centennial of the
National Park Service. And President Bush and Secretary Kempthorne, the
Secretary of Interior, have issued a Centennial Challenge, both to the
Congress, to the appropriators for more money over the next few years,
up until the centennial, for our national parks, and also to private
philanthropy, to think about giving to our national parks.

And so this was a great theme to have. Besides that, I hike in national
parks every year, and have for the last 20 years. And so they're
particularly important to me.

Q Yes, a wonderful natural resource for sure. You know, one of the
things we always enjoyed was Barney Cam, getting a chance to see how the
First Dogs are enjoying themselves. What are they up to this year,
celebrating, Barney and Miss Beazley?

MRS. BUSH: Barney and Miss Beazley and going to be Junior Rangers with
the National Park Rangers this year. And so they'll be showing
everyone, when Barney Cam is presented on the website, all the
decorations, and then talking a little bit, if they do talk, about our
national parks.

Q It's funny, they have run of the house. When I interviewed you a
few months back, I saw them running around. What do they think of that
enormous 18-foot tree?

MRS. BUSH: Well, they like it, and they especially love all those great
big ornaments on it, because they think those are soccer balls for them
to push around with their noses. (Laughter.)

Q You guys do everything big at the White House. Of course, there
are going to be 20,000 Christmas cookies made this year. Of course,
everyone has a favorite. How about yours?

MRS. BUSH: Well, this year, the cookies are so adorable. They're all
the different animals and birds that you might see in the national park.
They're eagle and bluebird and cardinal cookies, as well as bears and
moose and foxes and all the things that you might see in any of our
national parks. And so they're especially pretty and decorated cookies.

Q All right, so you're not saying you have a favorite, though? You
like --

MRS. BUSH: Well, I love those iced Christmas cookies; they're my
favorite. Of course, we have other kinds too. We have unbelievable
desserts for the many people that will come to all the different holiday
parties, including, of course, the press.

Q That's right, the invite for tonight, actually. Well, turning to
presidential politics for a minute, you and the President acknowledged
last week that Hillary Clinton's experience as First Lady would help
prepare her for the pressures the next President will face. In terms of
dealing with those issues, how much does being First Lady prepare you to
be able to deal with national security, let's say, or foreign policy?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I think what the President meant was that she is used
to the klieg lights that only the President of the United States and his
family are under, the huge pressure of the job. And she certainly
understands and knows that.

Q Do you think that being the First Lady is enough experience to then
help you make your way to President?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I mean, I think it is certainly some experience --
there's no doubt about that -- and being actively involved in all the
issues that come to the White House. That certainly is experience.

We actually were very -- we also had watched somebody we loved a lot in
the White House -- President Bush and Barbara Bush -- and that was an
advantage for us, I think, that we had been with them, that we'd seen
them, that we'd been here a lot and that we'd been very aware of the
issues they dealt with when President Bush was President.

Q Good point. Well, thanks so much for joining us this morning. And
your Christmas tree looks beautiful, and we're glad we had a chance to
give our viewers a sneak peak.